County Prepares To Close Woodmont Avenue

A section of Woodmont Avenue near the bustling Bethesda Row will be closed on Sept. 4 to make way for construction of a part-private, part-public underground parking garage to go along with two new residential buildings.

As part of its deal to purchase Lot 31 and Lot 31A from Montgomery County, developer StonebridgeCarras will build a 940-space underground parking garage just south of the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues. StonebridgeCarras purchased the properties in April to build a 250-unit condominium and rental property with 40,000 square feet of retail.

The road will be closed from Bethesda Avenue south to Leland Street for 20 to 24 months, according to Montgomery County parking management chief Rick Siebert. Construction crews will excavate on Woodmont Avenue, build the three-level parking garage and then repave the road on top of it.

StonebridgeCarras is responsible for the construction, but Siebert said the county has been working with the Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) to notify nearby businesses and residents in one of Bethesda’s busiest areas of the upcoming project.

“They got their traffic plan approved with DOT and the traffic division and permitting services,” Siebert said. “We’ve kind of gone one step over and above all that.”

The Capital Crescent Trail, which runs across the intersection of Woodmont and Bethesda Avenues, will remain open during construction.

Drivers will lose access to Miller Avenue from the Woodmont Avenue side. The street, which includes a bank, Vace Italian Delicatessen, and a beer and wine store, opens up to Wisconsin Avenue on the east side.

The completion of the apartment and retail portion of the project will come after the road is re-opened and is slated to finish in late 2014.